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Viel Spaß!

Weihnachten in Nordirland

Some of our Yr11 students sent off ePostcards to a German website, and we're very pleased to find that they've been featured as part of a page about how Christmas is celebrated in the UK! Have a look (we're the second ones down!):

Weinachten in Nordirland

Podcast number 1!!

How exciting! Another new launch forward into the interweb from the Shimna German Department! We haven't syndicated these yet with RSS, but as soon as we do you'll be able to download them automatically by pasting the address into a podcatcher program like Juice or even iTunes. In the meantime, you can download them one at a time as them appear here. Just click on the link to hear it, or if you want to save it to your computer or mp3 player, right click and choose save target as.

Podcast 1: Numbers 1-10

Languages for Life!

So, remember last year a group of students headed off to Murlough Nature Reserve to research some work with the National Trust? Well we're now in the final stages of that work, and on course to have a print version of our leaflets ready in time for the new tourist season at Easter.

Today, local design expert Celia Spouncer ran a whole day workshop for us, brainstorming ideas and guiding our students through the parameters of the National Trust's design policies. We held a meeting with the client (a representative of the National Trust) to discuss the target groups and the message they want to communicate. We put the final touches to the texts (in English and German) we had written for the two leaflets and set about getting appropriate images. It was a very worthwhile experience for all.

Danke, Celia!

German from scratch!!

Tanya is one of our sixth-year A-level students and member of the languages committee. She has opted to also study GCSE German from scratch. Here she is to tell us a little about it:

I really love studying languages and last year I did GSCE's in both Irish and French. At the start of this year I had picked three A levels but was a bit uncertain about a forth. While at Queen's open day I went to a German presentation with my friend. I decided a while back I would like to study languages at university and perhaps become an interpreter but to do this I felt I would really need another European language. At the presentation they said it would be possible to do a degree in German without doing an A-level in German, though it would be hard! And naturally doing the GCSE would be a bit of a head start - I was really glad that school was able to find a way to allow me into the GCSE class! It's not too hard so far, and I'm quite enjoying it really! Auf Wiedersehen!

Revision!!

Oh, no - the GCSE mocks are nearly here! If you´ve only just realised, don´t panic! Do get down to revision straight away, though. Here are some links to help you:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/german/

http://germanvocabrevision.pbwiki.com/

http://www.quia.com/shared/search (search for German in Categories)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/talk/

Viel Spaß!

Viel Glück, Corinne!

Well done! Corinne White, who is studying A-level German in upper sixth, has so far received a T-Shirt for her entry in the Europe-wide Juvenes Translatores competition. She translated a long piece about Tourism from German into English. We wish her the best of luck as her entry now heads off to compete with young translators from all over Europe. The best entries in this competition - which is being organised by the European Comission's Directorate General for Translation - will win an all-expenses-paid trip to Brussels!

Viel Glück!

Martina Schwarz Konzerte!

Young learners from our network of primary schools can be seen below participating in a German concert by Martina Schwarz from Cologne. Students from St. Patrick's, Burrenreagh, Castlewellan Primary, Annsborough IPS and All Children's IPS attended the first concert which took place in All Children's Integrated Primary here in Newcastle. Martina then went on to Kilkeel, where she performed again for our partner students from Kilkeel Primary and St. Colman's.

A great time was had by all, and we learnt a lot through song and dance.

Danke, Monika!

Alex Stritt, unser Fremdsprachenassistent!

Hallo zusammen!

Ich heiße Alex! Ich bin in diesem Jahr German Language Assistant an eurer Schule. Ich freue mich sehr, dass ich bei euch sein darf. Ich hoffe, dass ich euch viel aus meiner Heimat Deutschland erzählen kann und dass ihr von mir viel Deutsch lernt. Ich komme aus Waldshut, das ist eine kleine Stadt im Südschwarzwald an der Schweizer Grenze.

In Deutschland studiere ich im Moment Englisch und Geschichte. In meiner Freizeit spiele ich gerne Gitarre, gehe joggen, höre Musik und lese sehr gerne.

Thank you very much for your hospitality! Nordirland ist ein tolles Land, und die Leute sind sehr freundlich hier. Wenn ihr etwas über Deutschland wissen wollt, dann fragt mich einfach – if you want to know anything about Germany or get to know me – feel free to ask!!

Bis bald! See you!

Happy European Day of Languages!

We had table quizzes, badge and poster competitions, international food and even salsa dancing!

Here is some of the work that Year 10 and Year 11 have produced recently - interviews about part-time jobs and a collaborative presentation about the Simpsons:

Nebenjobs!

Simpsons

Das Neue Jahr

Welcome back, everyone.

And in the German Department we especially welcome Sara Camplisson, who will be teaching Year 8 to A-level, and also Alex Stritt, all the way from the Black Forest, who will be our German Assistant this year.

Der Bär

Here you can see one of the projects we've been working on with some of our local pimary schools: Heiko the German Bear arrived to spend two weeks with us, complete with a suitcase full of interesting things to do for learning all about Germany. He has gone on to further adventures now, but we had a wee party before he went!